Pumpkin, Cranberry, and Pecan Pie

Are you ready?

Are the gifts wrapped, the cookies baked, the halls decked? 

Me?  Nope.  I pretty prepared, I'll admit, thanks to a lot of online shopping (the result of our little ice storm a few weeks back) and a bit of proactive holiday decorating before the season kicked into full swing.  But no sweet treats have been made in my kitchen yet (I'm currently tackling about a thousand plus cookies every morning at the bakery so baking anything at home right now isn't exactly making it to the top of my to-do list), however, I fully intend to bring a few dozen on our upcoming Christmas vacation. 

But today I must share with you this pie.  I made it for Thanksgiving (ok, Nathan made it for Thanksgiving- I fetched ingredients and told him what to do.  I'm good at that.), but it would suit any holiday meal just fine.  It's essentially your classic pumpkin pie doused with a cranberry pecan crumble and it's a nice twist on the traditional version.  And it's easy as...pie, so you can tell someone else to make it. 

Pumpkin, Cranberry, and Pecan Pie

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 slightly beaten eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 single pie crust

For the Cranberry Pecan Topping
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cold butter
4 ounces fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup chopped pecans

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, zest, salt, and all of the spices (nutmeg through cardamom). In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin, eggs, cream, and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and lightly beat by hand until well combined. Pour the pumpkin mixture into a pie shell. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the brown sugar, flour, and salt, and butter to a small food processor and chop until it resembles a coarse mixture. Stir in the chopped cranberries and pecans.

Remove pie from the oven and sprinkle the cranberry mixture on top. Return the tart to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pie is set, topping is golden and bubbly, and the crust is golden. If the crust starts getting too brown, you can add strips of foil around the edges.  Cool on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate within 2 hours.

Adapted from Beantown Baker.